​Tomorrow is it – the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service. I couldn’t let this pass without saying my heartfelt thanks to those incredibly thoughtful and forward-thinking people for realizing the importance of protecting our country’s beautiful natural treasures.

MTA boys and leaders have been humbled to visit, hike in, and explore several of these amazing places. This past summer we were in the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. In 2015 we were in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In 2014 we were in Acadia National Park and in Shenandoah National Park. In 2017 we’ll be back in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in June and the Rocky Mountain National Park in July.

We love them all. Some of the others we’ve been to back in the early years of my travel program include Big Bend, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Sequoia, Zion, Badlands, Great Sand Dunes, Guadalupe Mountains, and Kings Canyon all come to mind. We’ve also visited national seashores, monuments, historic sites, national forests, and parkways. We should also mention the state parks, forests, and dozens of other public lands we’ve explored over the decades.

It has been quite some ride and we’re fortunate to have all of these protected areas for the future. It was indeed “America’s Best Idea.”